Dustin Rhodes
Dustin Patrick Runnels (born April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He currently works for WWE for Extreme as a producer for its SmackDown! brand. Runnels is best known for performing as Goldust in WWE and is also known for performing in various companies such as World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as Dustin Rhodes. Among the other names Runnels has performed under are Black Reign and Seven. Runnels is the son of "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and the half brother of Cody Rhodes and Hannah Rhodes. Between WWF/E and WCW, Rhodes won 17 total championships. In World Championship Wrestling, he was a two-time United States Champion, a one-time Six-Man Tag Team Champion, a two-time World Tag Team Champion, and a one-time NWA World Tag Team Champion. In World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment, he is a three-time Intercontinental Champion, a seven-time Hardcore Champion, and a one-time World Tag Team Champion. Professional wrestling career World Wrestling Federation (1990–1991) Rhodes debuted as a fan favorite in the World Wrestling Federation in late 1990, wrestling as Dustin Rhodes. In December 1990, Rhodes defeated Ted DiBiase in a televised ten-minute challenge match. On January 19, 1991 at the Royal Rumble, Rhodes and his father Dusty lost to Ted DiBiase and Virgil in a tag team bout, and left immediately after. World Championship Wrestling (1991–1995) In February 1991, Rhodes joined World Championship Wrestling, wrestling as "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes. He feuded with Larry Zbyszko until April 1991, when he refused to join Alexandra York's York Foundation, thus beginning a feud with Foundation member Terrence Taylor. In October 1992, Rhodes and Barry Windham won the World Tag Team Championship. One month later, Windham turned on Rhodes, beginning a feud. In January 1993, Rhodes won the United States Heavyweight Championship. In the same month, he began a lengthy feud with Rick Rude that lasted until August. Rhodes lost the title to "Stunning" Steve Austin in December 1993. In March 1994, Rhodes started feuding with Bunkhouse Buck and Col. Robert Parker. After Parker introduced Arn Anderson and Terry Funk as adversaries for Runnels, Runnels responded by bringing his father, a former enemy of Funk, back into the ring to team with him again against Parker's Stud Stable. In December 1994, Parker introduced another opponent for Rhodes, The Blacktop Bully. In March 1995, Rhodes and The Blacktop Bully both bladed during a King of the Road match at the 1995 Uncensored pay-per-view after being instructed to by one another, which was against corporate policy at the time in WCW. They were subsequently fired as a result. Return to the WWF (1995–1999) In September 1995, Rhodes returned to the World Wrestling Federation, wrestling as a heel nicknamed "the bizarre one" because of his somewhat spooky, very suggestive mannerisms and presence under the name Goldust. He deliberately attempted to creep out his opponents through lewd and flirtatious mind games. The character is portrayed as being obsessed with films and the color gold, as a pun of the Oscars Statuette. As Goldust, Runnels wrestled and won his debut match on October 22, 1995 against Marty Jannetty at the In Your House 4 pay-per-view. Runnels wrestled first in a gold and white and later a black and gold colored jumpsuit while wearing black and gold face paint and a platinum blonde wig over his short platinum blonde hair, with his appearance modeled after an Academy Award. While competing in matches, Goldust utilized such tactics as groping his opponents and expressing affection towards them in the midst of his onslaught. Goldust initially feuded with Razor Ramon, whom he stalked and sent messages to throughout late 1995. The feud culminated at the Royal Rumble on January 21, 1996, where Goldust defeated Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship due to interference from the 1-2-3 Kid. This match also marked the debut of his valet, Marlena, portrayed by his then-wife Terri. With a seductively nonchalant character, Marlena sat at ringside in a director's chair, advising Goldust while smoking a cigar. A rematch between Goldust and Ramon at WrestleMania XII was canceled after Ramon was suspended, with Goldust instead wrestling and losing to Roddy Piper in a non-title "Hollywood Backlot Brawl". Goldust defended his Intercontinental Championship in bouts against Savio Vega and The Ultimate Warrior before losing to Ahmed Johnson at King of the Ring on June 23, 1996. In August 1996, Goldust briefly gained control over Mankind and feuded with The Undertaker. His attention soon turned to Marc Mero and his then wife Sable. Goldust and Marlena attempted to get Sable to join their team, but Mero won the feud and kept her by his side. In May 1997, Goldust revealed his identity as Dustin Runnels, the son of Dusty Rhodes. In the summer and fall of that year, he joined other wrestlers in their conflict with The Hart Foundation, feuding in particular with Brian Pillman, to whom he lost the services of Marlena for thirty days. Just before the thirty days were up, Pillman died hours before Badd Blood of heart disease on October 5, 1997. In November 1997, Goldust split with Marlena and refused to cooperate with his Survivor Series teammates, which once again turned him into a heel. This led to a feud with Vader and the appearance of The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (a reference to Prince), managed by Luna Vachon. He began mimicking celebrities and fellow wrestlers with characters such as "Chynadust", "Dust Lovedust", "Dustydust", "Hunterdust", "Flashdust", "Marilyn Mansondust", "Sabledust", and "Vaderdust". In May 1998, Rhodes declared the end of Goldust and burned his jumpsuit on television, thereby splitting with Luna and eventually getting involved with Terri Runnels once again. He feuded with Val Venis, who had been involved with Terri during their separation. Now going by his real name, Dustin Runnels began speaking out (mostly in taped vignettes) on the increasingly edgy WWF product and promoting alternatives to watching the show such as reading the Bible. These vignettes were sponsored by the fictional group, "Evangelists Against Television, Movies and Entertainment", the anagram for which reads "EATME" - a thinly veiled joke on the WWF's part. Runnels declared himself a born again Christian, alluding to "his" return, and walking through the crowd with signs reading "he's coming back!" While the return of Christ was clearly implied, Runnels was in fact referencing the return of the Goldust gimmick, which he reprised in October 1998 against Val Venis and then in November 1998, he began feuding with Jeff Jarrett over the attention of his manager, Debra. In early 1999, Goldust feuded with Al Snow, upon stealing Head, Snow's mascot, and The Blue Meanie, who had recently renamed himself "Bluedust" and adopted many of Goldust's mannerisms. After Goldust defeated Meanie at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Meanie became Goldust's apprentice. After Ryan Shamrock became Goldust's valet, Meanie and Shamrock began vying for Goldust's attention. In the same time period, Goldust won the Intercontinental Championship again from Road Dogg and then lost it to The Godfather two weeks later. Return to WCW (1999–2001) Rhodes returned to World Championship Wrestling in 1999, filming several vignettes for a fantastical, face-painted character named Seven. These vignettes contained ominous footage of Rhodes in full makeup standing outside of a child's bedroom window. The character was dropped after Turner Standards and Practices expressed concern that this gimmick could be misinterpreted as a child abductor. Upon returning to WCW television, Rhodes removed his costume and delivered a worked shoot in which he mocked unrealistic gimmicks as well as his time as Goldust in the WWF. After turning heel upon his return, Rhodes began wrestling as "The American Nightmare" Dustin Rhodes, with his nickname a reference to his father's nickname, "The American Dream". Rhodes feuded with Jeff Jarrett before turning heel and feuding with Terry Funk. He was suspended in April 2000 due to an appearance on the WCW Live! Internet radio program in which he criticized WCW head writer Vince Russo, calling him a "sawed-off midget" and an "asshole". He returned to WCW television in January 2001, assisting his father in his feud with Jarrett and, eventually, Ric Flair. He wrestled on the very last WCW pay-per-view, WCW Greed on March 18, 2001. Exactly 10 years after the last time he teamed with his father on a pay-per-view, he and his father defeated Jeff Jarrett & Ric Flair in a tag team match. In March 2001, WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation, with the WWF neglecting to acquire Rhodes' contract. In July 2001, Rhodes, while still under contract to AOL Time Warner, began wrestling for his father's newly created Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling promotion, winning the promotion's Heavyweight Championship. Return to WWF/E (2001–2003) In December 2001, Rhodes accepted a buyout from his AOL Time Warner contract and was re-signed by the World Wrestling Federation to a 2-year deal. Promos immediately began airing on WWF television advertising the return of Goldust. On January 20, 2002, Rhodes officially returned by taking part in the Royal Rumble, reprising his Goldust character. Shortly after returning, promos began airing for a few weeks of Goldust saying that there was a certain wrestler whose "star was shining brighter" than he'd like. He eventually revealed the person he was talking about was Rob Van Dam by attacking him on RAW. Van Dam defeated him in a singles match at No Way Out 2002. After the loss, he moved on to the hardcore division, where he won the Hardcore Championship on seven occasions. When the World Wrestling Federation was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment and the roster was divided into two brands, RAW and SmackDown!, Goldust was assigned to the RAW brand, where he formed a tag team with Booker T. The duo engaged in numerous comedic vignettes, on one occasion hosting a segment titled Booker T and Goldust at the Movies and delivering reviews of The Scorpion King, a film starring The Rock. In May 2002, Booker joined the nWo, with Goldust's request to join the faction rejected. In June 2002, Booker was ejected from the nWo by Shawn Michaels, sparking a feud between the nWo and Booker and Goldust. Booker and Goldust went on to compete in the tag team division, winning the World Tag Team Championship at Armageddon before being forced to split up on the February 3, 2003 episode of Raw by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff for failing to win back the World Tag Team Titles. Following the dissolution of the tag team, Rhodes developed a gimmick whereupon he contracted a stutter, as well as Tourette's-like symptoms (which continue to this day), upon receiving a shock from a Round Tube during an attack at the hands of Batista and Randy Orton. Rhodes appeared sporadically thereafter, forming a tag team with Lance Storm in August 2003. In fall 2003, Booker T. began receiving mysterious, haunting messages for a few weeks from somebody. The messages only said "I remember". It was rumored that the messages would be from Goldust, which would have begun a feud between the two. Suddenly, the angle was never mentioned again on television and the company announced on their web site that they would not be renewing Rhodes' contract. WWE allowed his contract to expire in December 2003. Independent circuit (2002-2008) In-between his various stints with WWE and TNA, Runnels competed on the independent circuit, first appearing for his father's promotion, Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling. Competing as Dustin Rhodes, he captured the TCW Heavyweight Championship from Scotty Riggs on January 26, but vacated the title immediately afterwards after it was confirmed that he would be returning to WWE. Following his return to the WWE at the 2002 Royal Rumble, he made two more appearances with TCW, the first in a six-man tag team match with his father Dusty and Ron Studd against Riggs, Fake Goldust, and Jason Sugarmann, and the second in a singles victory over Steve Corino. Following his release from WWE in December 2003, Runnels returned to the independent circuit while concurrently competing in his first stint with TNA. He first appeared for the Japanese promotion WORLD-1, as Dusty Rhodes Jr., working three dates in early April, all singles matches and all victories. In July, Runnels returned to the United States and appeared for Full Impact Pro, tag teaming with Barry Windham and defeating the Cuban Assassin and Ryze. Runnels didn't appear on the independent circuit for the rest of 2004 and much of 2005, until the first WrestleReunion, teaming with his father and Mike Graham against Abdullah the Butcher, Kevin Sullivan, and CM Punk. After his departure from TNA, he made a few appearances with Dusty for CCW against Phi Delta Slam. Runnels also competed on the Tribute to Starrcade show on November 19 in a match against Terry Funk, which ended in a No-Contest. After returning to his fourth stint with WWE, Runnels once again disappeared from the indies, but made a special appearance with Jerry Lawler's Memphis Wrestling on March 3, 2006, as Goldust, in a match against Lawler, which he lost after Lawler hit him with a steel chain. Runnels was released from his fourth stint with WWE on June 14. Two weeks and six days later, on July 1, he returned to WORLD-1, defeating Tully Blanchard in the main event. On October 14, he appeared with the UK promotion One Pro Wrestling, under the name Gold Dustin (the name he would use in AJPW) with a victory over Curry Man. While competing for AJPW in 2007, Runnels returned to CCW to feud with Phi Delta Slam, mainly in tag team matches with a variety of partners, including Kip James. In mid-2007, he made several appearances with Hermie Sadler's UWF promotion to hype his return to TNA, making his debut on March 2 with a victory over Steve Corino. He appeared with UWF throughout his second tenure with TNA, facing the likes of Scott Steiner, Sabu, David Flair, Andrew Martin, and D'Lo Brown. His tenure in UWF also saw him compete in the often-considered "cross-promotional" War Games match against Team JBL (managed by John Bradshaw Layfield, who was signed to WWE as a commentator at the time) consisting of Steve Corino, C.W. Anderson, the Latin American Xchange, and Elix Skipper. Runnels was a member of Sgt. Slaughter's Team Slaughter, along with the Steiner Brothers and the Mack Brothers. Team Slaughter won the bout. Runnels' final appearance with UWF on September 22, 2007, where he and Abyss were on the losing end of a tag team bout against D'Lo Brown and a local football coach. Following his release from TNA in early 2008, Runnels briefly returned to Coastal Championship Wrestling to face the members of Phi Delta Slam (Bruno Sassi and Big Tilly) before beginning his fifth stint in WWE in October 2008. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004–2005) On February 4, 2004, he debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as "The Lone Star" Dustin Rhodes, unsuccessfully challenging Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On February 18, Runnels and El Leon defeated Kevin Northcutt and Legend in a tag team bout. In December 2004, he returned to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, once again wrestling as Dustin Rhodes. He feuded with Raven, Kid Kash, and Bobby Roode during his time there. His TNA contract expired in April 2005 and he chose not to renew it, leaving TNA. Return to WWE (2005–2006) Rhodes returned to World Wrestling Entertainment on October 31, 2005 repackaged as a heel and back under the Goldust attire, as Jonathan Coachman enlisted him and Vader to attack Batista. Goldust and Vader unsuccessfully interfered in a Street Fight between Batista and Coachman on behalf of Coachman at Taboo Tuesday. Following the event, Goldust once again disappeared from television. In January 2006, Goldust took part in the Royal Rumble match and was assigned once again to the RAW brand until he was released from his WWE contract on June 14, 2006 for no-showing an appearance. All Japan Pro Wrestling (2007) On January 28, 2007, it was announced that Rhodes would appear at the February 17, 2007 All Japan Pro Wrestling show in the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. On February 15, Rhodes, identified as Gold Dustin, appeared at ringside during a match involving The Great Muta, resulting in a brawl between Rhodes and The Great Muta. On February 17, Rhodes and Jinsei Shinzaki were defeated by The Great Muta and Yoshihiro Tajiri in a tag team bout. Return to World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2008–present) Backstage Producer and Return to SmackDown (2008–present) On July 11th, Runnels began working backstage as a producer for WWE for Extreme. Personal life Dustin's father is "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes. His real life half brother is Cody Rhodes who also wrestles for WWE on its RAW brand. He has a sister named Kristin Runnels Ditto, who is a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, and half-sister Hannah Rhodes who wrestled for WWE for Extreme previously. In 1993, Rhodes married Terri Runnels (née Boatright), whom he met while they were both working for WCW. They have a daughter, Dakota, who was born in 1994. Dustin's strained relationship with his father caused problems in their marriage, and Terri alleges that Dusty spread rumors about her that included infidelity and "gold-digging." The couple divorced in 1999 after six years of marriage. Years after the divorce, they were able to have a "better relationship" for the sake of their daughter. Dustin married his second wife, Milena, on December 18, 2002. They had been dating for 18 months prior to the marriage. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Curtain Call'' (Lifting falling inverted DDT or a hangman's neckbreaker, sometimes transitioned from a scoop lift) **''Final Cut'' / Schizophrenic (Vertical suplex lifted and dropped into a snap swinging neckbreaker) — 2007–present **''Shattered Dreams'' (Running low blow to a rope hung opponent) **''Lone Star State of Mind'' (Lifting falling inverted DDT) – TNA **''Blackout'' (Kneeling facebuster) – 2007–2008 *'Signature moves' **Bionic elbow – Adopted from his father **Bulldog, sometimes from the second rope **Clothesline **DDT **''Director's Cut'' / Shock Treatment (Snap scoop powerslam pin) **Diving clothesline **Dropping down and uppercutting the opponent, as a back body drop counter **''Golden Age'' (Reverse STO) **''Good Night Sweet Charlotte'' (Sleeper hold) **Jumping hip attack to an onrushing opponent **Inverted atomic drop, often followed by a clothesline **''Oscar'' (Sitout rear mat slam) **Running stunner – 2007 **Sidewalk slam **Spinebuster **Spinning side slam *'Managers' **Marlena **Luna Vachon **Bluedust **Ryan Shamrock **James Mitchell **Hornswoggle **Skandor Akbar *'Nicknames' **"The Natural" (WCW) **"The American Nightmare" (WCW) – **"The Lonestar" (WCW / TCW/ TNA) **"The Prince of Perversion" (WWF/E) **'"The Bizarre One"' (WWF/E / TNA) *'Entrance themes' **"Dustin Runnels" by Jim Johnston (WWF; as Dustin Runnels) **"The Natural" by D. Conort, M. Seitz and J. Papa (WCW; as Dustin Rhodes) **"Golden" by Jim Johnston (WWF) **"Goldust" by Jim Johnston (WWF) **"Black Reign" by Dale Oliver (TNA) **'"Gold-Lust"' by Jim Johnston (WWF/E) Championships and accomplishments *'Championship Wrestling from Florida' **NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Mike Graham *'Coastal Championship Wrestling **CCW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated''' **PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1991) **PWI ranked him #'11' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1996 *'Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling' **TCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'World Championship Wrestling' **NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)- with Barry Windham **WCW United States Championship (2 times) **WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Big Josh and Tom Zenk **WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Ricky Steamboat (1) and Barry Windham (1) *'World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment' **World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Booker T **WWF Hardcore Championship (7 times) **WWF Intercontinental Championship (3 times) **Slammy Award for Best Couple (1997) *'Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards' **5 Star Match (1992) with Nikita Koloff, Sting, Ricky Steamboat, and Barry Windham vs. Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, and Larry Zbyszko in a WarGames match at WrestleWar **Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1997) **Most Improved (1991) **Rookie of the Year (1989) **Worst Gimmick (1995) as Goldust **Worst Gimmick (1997) as The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust **Worst Gimmick (2007) as Black Reign Category:1969 births Category:WWE for Extreme Category:World Championship Wrestling Category:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Category:American wrestlers Category:Intercontinental Champions Category:Tag Team Champions Category:United States Champions Category:Hardcore Champions